1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing apparatuses, image processing methods, and programs. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image processing apparatus which extracts characters through the following analysis performed within a short period of time. The image processing apparatus detects face images (images of a predetermined object) included in still-image frames successively obtained from a moving-image stream, determines whether a person corresponding to a face image detected in a current frame is the same as a person corresponding to a face image which is detected in a previous frame and which has been stored, in accordance with face feature values of the two face images, and stores one of the two face images when the determination is affirmative.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, opportunities of capturing moving images have been increased since camcorders and digital still cameras which employ hard disks and memory cards as recording media have been widely used. Various methods, such as a method for detecting highlights using moving image analysis, have been proposed in order to quickly retrieve and view desired moving-image files and scenes from many moving-image files which have been recorded. An example of such a method for improving ease of retrieval and ease of viewing of moving images includes a method for extracting characters in a moving-image file employing a face detection technique and a face identifying technique. Other similar methods have been proposed.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-77536, for example, discloses a method for performing face tracking on adjacent frames in a still-image sequence obtained by decoding a moving-image file so that face areas of identical persons are determined, and finally performing clustering in order to distinguish characters.